From redundancy to self employment to award winner

Paul Dolman, a self employed plumber, has won a national award recognising his enterprise skills. His win was announced at a prestigious event at the House of Lords on Thursday, 23rd October.

Paul was nominated for the Enterprising Learning award by TCHC. The award recognises those individuals that have demonstrated commitment and excellence when studying enterprise skills and have gone on to success as a result. Nominations came in from across the UK, with six individuals from Scotland to Hertfordshire being shortlisted and invited to attend the House of Lords event.

Paul was made redundant after spending 10 years working in a power station maintaining, repairing and rectifying faults. He decided to develop his skills and become a self employed plumber. He had never been self employed before so signed up for a course to explore his enterprising skills run by The Consultancy Home Counties Ltd (TCHC) who helped him develop a business plan, identify his skills gaps and get ready to set up his enterprise.

Paul relished the opportunity to develop his skills and has gone on to successfully set up his new plumbing and heating business.
Ruth Lowbridge, Executive Chair of SFEDI and IOEE, said:

"The nominees for this award demonstrate how developing enterprise skills can make a huge difference to someone exploring self employment. We congratulate Paul who has been outstanding in the way he has embraced learning by retraining in both technical and business skills ".